This specification relates to advertising, and, more particularly, to web and mobile device advertising.
Web and mobile device advertising (also referred to as “online” advertising) harnesses the power of the Internet to deliver marketing messages to customers. An example of an online advertisement is the “banner ad.” A typical banner ad is an image that is embedded into a web page and contains a hyperlink such that, when clicked upon by a user visiting that web page, causes the user's browser to be redirected to a third-party web site. In some cases, the ad or image may convey an offer from a third party selling a product or service. “Pop-up” ads are similar, but are displayed in a separate browser window upon visiting a web page.
Another example of an online advertisement is the “interstitial” web page. When a user directs a browser to navigate to a desired page, an interstitial page displaying an advertisement is presented before the user is allowed to proceed to that desired page. Interstitial pages are shown to the user temporarily and cause the user to wait a predetermined amount of time before being redirected to the desired page. As a result, interstitial pages force the user to see a particular ad, presumably increasing the odds that the user will click on that ad and explore it further.
Such types of advertisements provide little or no indication of the destination to which the consumer is to be redirected upon clicking the ad. Such ads have been shown to cause “banner blindness,” in which consumers simply ignore web or mobile device advertisements and/or seek tools that prevent their display altogether. For example, a user may install a software program or browser extension such as an ad blocker, a pop-up blocker, a content filter, or the like.
In addition to the shortcomings listed above, the current state of web and mobile device advertising has several other limitations recognized by the present inventors. For example, there are typically no analytical standards available to publishers (e.g., Internet websites or mobile service providers), advertisers (e.g., merchants), or consumers with which to measure the quality of their respective experiences relative to an advertisement. Also, most advertisements often are not personalized, which means they may not be particularly relevant to the viewer.
These and other limitations and inefficiencies lead to low ad click rates for advertisers, low consumer satisfaction, and low revenue for publishers.